The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1887-08-05

fcrd,s T.aslisus, WHO, fighting splehdidiy, were
slowly being pushed back made for the north
side Of Isandhlwana. AS soon as they got ON
the high ground they caught sight Of the
JJrdi. who, something over 5000 strong, were
running swiftly In n formation OF companies,
about half mile away 10 the northward.
aBy Heavenl they mean TO turn the noun.
toin and seize tho wagon road,r said Mr..
Alston. "Gallop"
The troops dashed down the slope toward
pass in n stony ridge, which would command
the path Of the Undi, rs they did 20 breaking
through nnd killing two or three Of thin
line Of Zulus that formed the extreme point
of one Of the horns or nippers by medAs Of
which the enemy intended TO inclose the
camp and crush IT,
After this Aston's Horse saw nothing more
Of the general fights but IL may he as well TO
briefly relate what happened The Zulus Of
the various regiments pushed slowly on To-
ward the camp, notwithstanding their heavy
losses. Their object was TO give time TO the
horns or nippers to close round Y. Mean
while, those Ia command realized too late the
extreme seriousness of the position and began
TO concentrate the various companies. Too
latel the enemy saw that the nipperr had
closed He knew, too, that tho Und could
not be far off the wagon road, the only way Of
retreat; and 80, abandoning his silence and
his slow advance, he raised the Zulu war
shout and charged In from distance Of 600
to 500 yards
Up 10 this time the English loss had been
small, for the shooting OF the Zulus was vile.
The zulus, on the contrary, had, especially
during the last half hour before they charged,
lost heavily But now the tables turned.
First the Natal contingent, seeing that they
1.J .l apI la4I
right and rear flank Of the troops. In poured
the Zulus, so that most of the soldiers had
not time even to fix bayonets. In another
minute our men were being assegaied right
and left. and the retreat OF the camp had be-
come a fearful rout. But even then there
was nowhere TO run to. The Undi corps
(which afterward passed ON and attacked the
post at Rorke's Drift already held the wagon
road, and the only practical way of retreat
was down gully 70 the south of the road
Into this the broken fragments Of the force
plunged wildly, and after them and mixed up
with them went their Zulu foes. masSacring
every living thing they came across.
So She camp was cleared. When, a couple
Of hours afterward, Commaudaut Lonsdale,
of Lonsdale Horse was sent back by Gen.
Chelmsford to ascertain what the sring was
about, he could see nothing wrong. The
tents were standing, the wagons were
there; there were even soldiers moving
about. 1t did not occur to him that
1t was the soldiers coats which were moving
on the backs Of Kaffers, and that the soldiers
themselves would never move again. So he
rode off quickly up to the headquarter tents,
out of which, to his surprise, there suddenly
stalked a huge naked Zulu, smeared all over
with blood and waving in his hand bloody
assegai
Having seen enough, he then rode back
again to tell the general that his camp was
taken
To Gods good providence and Cetywayo's
clemency, rather than to our own wisdom, dc
we owe it that all the outlying homesteads in
Natal were not laid in ashes and men, womer
and children put 70 the assegai.